A Strange Night
by Djehuty3
Summary: Oneshot. When a night is strange enough, anything can happen...I don't know enough about the American rating system, so this could be way off. Content is relatively innocent.


It had been a strange day, Raven reflected, as she lay back in her bed. All around her, heroes of all shapes and sizes slept. The Brotherhood of Evil was defeated.  
Tomorrow, many of those heroes would go home. But for tonight… all Titans slept beneath a single roof. In a strange way, Raven could feel them. Not magically. It was something stronger then mere sorcery. It was stronger then it, somehow, stranger.  
Of course, that didn't mean there wasn't magic in the T Tower right now…

Raven rolled over. As of this moment, the half-demon could sense two other sorceresses. Argent's name she'd picked up fairly recently. The deep, fiery, passionate nature of her magic was at odds with the calm, slightly distant cockney Raven had met. Then again, she added mentally, the same could be said of me.  
But Argent wasn't the problem.  
Far more troubling was the presence of Jynx.

Raven was still a little confused at Jynx's position. The two mages had fought before. They knew each other's magicks well enough to have a healthy respect for each other, and they had both been on the receiving ends of each other's curses to dislike each other quite definitely.  
Or at least, they had.  
There are senses that come with being a mage. All practitioners of the craft can sense each other's emotions slightly. Not well enough to be able to guess what the other one was thinking, granted, but enough to be able to roughly gauge the other's mood.  
Jynx usually "felt" bitter and hostile, a beacon of fury blazing across the magickal senses. But now… now she seemed more confused then bitter. More wary then hostile. Things had most definitely changed.

What to do, what to do…

After a long moment, Raven sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, Jynx had redeemed herself. And that meant Raven had to at least give her a chance. Gently, she reached out with her mind, and let Jynx sense her presence. We need to talk, the half-breed "said." Be in the living-room in ten minutes. There was no reply.

Ten minutes later, Jynx sat in the living-room in black jeans and the pink tee-shirt she wore in bed. Raven sat opposite her in similar garb. Neither had spoken yet.  
"Those are my jeans, you know," Raven said. Jynx's usual smirk didn't change.  
"Yeah, I know. I had nothing else besides my dress. And some underwear, but I doubt that would fit the occasion." Something flickered across Raven's lips; it was a smile, panicking in unfamiliar territory.  
The silence stretched out again, but it was almost companionable now. For a long moment, they basked in it.  
Then, abruptly, Jynx started to talk.  
"What's this about, Raven? You looking for an apology for all those times I kicked your butt"  
Raven's face regained it's usual blankness.  
"I wouldn't get one if I asked. Anyway, I won more then I lost"  
"Oh yeah? What about that time in Pacino's jewellery store"  
"Fluke. You were lucky"  
Jynx raised a pink eyebrow, smirking.  
"Was I, now. I seem to remember you getting a pretty mean hex in the face five seconds earlier. And another in the gut three seconds after"  
There was a hint of something around Raven's amethyst eyes now. The smile had returned, tentatively scouting out new land.  
"I was off that day"  
"That time of the month"  
"Not answering that question"  
Jynx sniggered. It was nice to be able to behave normally, for once. Admittedly, she was making dirty jokes to someone who she'd hexed fairly regularly, but compared to the HIVE academy, that was positively mundane.

Something brushed against their magical senses. As one, both girls looked up. There, leaning against the door-frame, was Argent.  
"'Ope I'm not disturbin' anythin'?" she said, the cockney twang evident in her voice. Jynx glanced at Raven briefly. The other shook her head.  
"No"  
Argent nodded, and preceded to wander over to the kitchen.  
"Good. I jus' sensed you two in 'ere. My curiosity got the better of me"  
Jynx smirked.  
"What, you thought we were a coven or something"  
"Don't be daft, there's only two of you." Argent glanced back over her shoulder at them, a mug of what looked like hot milk in one hand. "Maidens, right"  
Raven inclined her head slightly. Maiden was a stage in witch-craft. It was as much a part of youth as it was magickal skill. Jynx seemed slightly surprised at Raven's admission.  
"Wait, you're a Maiden"  
Raven shrugged.  
"Uh-huh. Not old enough to be a mother yet"  
"Or a crone," chimed Argent, her tone bland but spiced with mischief. Raven tossed her a blank look.  
After a long moment of companionable silence, Jynx and Raven joined Argent in the kitchen. Each quietly produced their beverage of choice. The half-breed chose a herbal tea. Jynx went for ice-water. In unison, the three witches sat in a circle at the table, sipping their drinks in silence and watching Jump City through the window. After a long, comfortable pause, Jynx laughed again, quietly.  
Argent gave her an enquiring look. "What's so funny"  
"Nothin'. It's just…" she paused, trying to put the feeling of camaredie into words. "Well… I guess this feels like a coven"  
The silence that greeted this was charged with meaning. Then, in unison, all three girls took each others hands. The spell that came from their lips was as ancient as life and as powerful as the arcane mysteries that fuelled their powers.

"Joined together hand in hand our circle gathers round, to work our magic, weave the web, and dance on sacred ground. By the goddess we are called, witch to witch and friend to friend,  
to merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again."

Silence reigned again in the darkness of the T Tower living room. But it was a different kind of silence. A sense of holiness had dropped.

Three witches who barely knew each other had become a coven. They had been bound together in chains of strangeness.

And that night, as Raven went back to bed, part of a sisterhood to primal to put into words, that strangeness didn't go away.  
But then… it had been a strange day. 


End file.
